Record high temperatures this weekend

By Reginald Stanley. Posted March 15, 2015, 5:25 PM.

A very warm, dry offshore wind event has resulted in numerous daily and monthly record high temperatures being surpassed all over Southern California this weekend.

High temperatures exceeded 90 degrees at most locations Saturday and Sunday. Coastal areas, inland valleys and deserts were all affected by the heat - only the mountains remained cool. In the WeatherCurrents network, the highest temperatures were 93 degrees reported at both Lake Elsinore and Riverside (Canyon Crest). The weather stations in Anza and Cherry Valley were the coolest, being at higher elevations where they are less vulnerable to heat.

Offshore Flow events typically occur in Fall, often producing some of the highest temperatures of the year in most areas. They rarely, if ever occur during winter. The 2014-15 winter has been mostly dry across the region (with the exception of December), and steady above-average temperatures have been occurring regularly. January, February and March are usually the wettest months of the year in California, but this year, these months have been rain-starved and warm. This continues the trend of much warmer-than-average temperatures the region has been experiencing consistently since the end of 2013.